Kiwis are spending more and more with Eftpos and credit cards this Christmas than last, new figures show.
In the first two weeks of December this year, $2.64 billion has been spent on Eftpos operator Paymark's network.
That's a 6.1 percent increase on the same period in 2015 ($2.45b), and last year's overall December figures suggest Kiwis will do most of their shopping in the next five days.
The region with the highest increase in spending was the West Coast, with 12.6 percent more spent than in the first two weeks of December 2015.
Gisborne was the only region to drop in card spending, with a 3.8 percent less spent than last year. The city was without power for two days of shopping last week.
Marlborough showed the lowest growth - 1.9 percent - which Paymark put down to the recent quakes.
Kiwis are doing most of their shopping at lunchtime through the week. The busiest spending hour of the last week was 12pm to 1pm on December 9, when 484,135 transactions occurred.
This trend is disrupted by weekend spending - when people head out to cafes and restaurants.
Newshub.
